> Trump caves into one of China's crazy demandsPages: 1

Trump caves into one of China's crazy demands

This article is interesting. I don't think a few changes in agricultural tariffs is a fair negotiating trade for the ZTE block. In particular, China has a history of announcing trade changes and either not following through or just substituting some other barrier.

The US government has to go through certain legal processes before it can take actions, but the Chinese government can take action rapidly. That difference has to be built into whatever we negotiate.

My Washington Post colleagues reported that Trump may have gotten ahead of a brewing “mini-deal” whereby the United States provides relief for ZTE and, in return, China eases its restrictions on U.S. agricultural imports. If that’s the case, the Trump administration “just got blackmailed,” according to Derek Scissors, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

“Our actions against ZTE might have been excessive, but what you can’t do is say, ‘Just kidding’ when the Chinese start complaining about it,” he said. “The idea that we did it and then reversed ourselves is awful.”

As I’ve written before, a short-term deal would a penny-wise, pound-foolish approach, because confronting China’s large-scale unfair and illegal practices should be an urgent strategic priority. The United States gets one shot to show China that we are serious about forcing it to change its behavior — and, if it won’t, that we are serious about defending ourselves.

Trump is signaling he’s willing to give up the one piece of leverage that is actually getting the Chinese government’s attention before receiving anything concrete in return. That’s not only bad negotiating. It also sends the message that the United States doesn’t have the stomach for the larger economic battles with China to come.

Re: Trump caves into one of China's crazy demands

Re: Trump caves into one of China's crazy demands

. wrote:

I didn't cave! The Chinese government is financing a Trump Org project to the tune of $500M! \

An interesting story as well.

When you work for a large company, they train you in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and they tell you that you should never give a gift to any government official, nor do anything to help their families.

Re: Trump caves into one of China's crazy demands

Phillip_McCavity wrote:

You mean, watch China wipe the floor with us.

Trump is amazing easy to manipulate and doesn't think about complexity (hence, demanding only 5 pages of information).

I would say it's you who doesn't think about complexity. You're taking a child-like view of this thing. For one, you're acting like everything is done. Neither China trade negotiations, North Korea negotiations, nor Iran negotiations are finished, so you're being a bit premature.

Re: Trump caves into one of China's crazy demands

Curl Sagan wrote:

I would say it's you who doesn't think about complexity. You're taking a child-like view of this thing. For one, you're acting like everything is done. Neither China trade negotiations, North Korea negotiations, nor Iran negotiations are finished, so you're being a bit premature.

The fact that Trump would trade national security for trade, when the two are separate, is very interesting. No responsible leader in either party thinks that is wise.

A wise thing would have been to keep the US in the TPP, which deprived China of trade leadership and power. But Trump is too stupid to get that.

Re: Trump caves into one of China's crazy demands

Phillip_McCavity wrote:

The fact that Trump would trade national security for trade, when the two are separate, is very interesting. No responsible leader in either party thinks that is wise.

A wise thing would have been to keep the US in the TPP, which deprived China of trade leadership and power. But Trump is too stupid to get that.

No, national security and trade are closely linked. That's that child-like view I'm talking about. How do you presume to know the mind of leaders? Got a quote talking about the distinction between national security and trade? I can't imagine that you'll find one.

Re: Trump caves into one of China's crazy demands

Curl Sagan wrote:

No, national security and trade are closely linked. That's that child-like view I'm talking about. How do you presume to know the mind of leaders? Got a quote talking about the distinction between national security and trade? I can't imagine that you'll find one.

Knowing Trump's mind is easy, some transcripts of his phone calls were released and it is easy to see that he doesn't listen to professionals but simply says the thing of the hour.

The correct response from Trump needed to be "Hey Xi, I'm sorry about your workers, but your company acted in bad faith and undermined US sanctions."

Curl Sagan wrote:

The TPP was terrible. It is dead. Let it go.

Pulling out of it only have China more power to determine trade rules, and undermined US leadership. It happened because Trump has absolutely zero understanding of how to carry out negotiations between nations. Obama did, that is why the TPP would have completely opened markets in Japan, Malaysia, and more importantly, it would have replaced NAFTA with additional labor and environmental standards.